Quad vs. 8 core

[eelpout]

I have the 8 core and am very glad I went that route. I normally have 7 or 8 programs running at the same time and it definitely helps things work smoothly.

I have also watched the CPU Usage in Activity Monitor while ripping DVDs with Handbrake and usage goes as high as 720% - basically using 7 cores fully and partially using the 8th.

Once Grand Central is out OS X will do a far better job of juggling multiple cores as well. Most CPU intensive applications will be updated to take advantage of this as well so you can expect even better results.

Except for ripping, compressing etc. I'm not sure you'd see a lot of difference using the iMac dual core 3.06 with sufficient RAM than an octo with lots of apps open. Just sayin'.

 

[VirtualRain]

Maybe I'll wait it another couple of months to see the review with snow leopard.

Isn't that what you said a couple of months ago? Just buy one already! 😀

 

[hehejames]

Isn't that what you said a couple of months ago? Just buy one already! 😀

Nice catch!!! We've got to keep certain people off the forum coming back with repetitive questions... Should I buy one now? next month? why buy it if I have an iMac? and lots of those BS questions 😀

 

[nuckinfutz]

I think the misconception here is that an app has to be "cpu intensive" large or whatever to benefit from concurrency.

The way Grand Central Dispatch is "central" to managing Snow Leopards threads even your basic apps like Addressbook and mail will show improvement. Single Threaded apps will co-exist nicely with heavily threaded apps.

Snow Leopard has multiple API for GCD ...low level and high level. The key here is a dynamic system the throttles up/down depending on needs. OpenCL factors into this because it becomes just another compute resource for GCD to hand tasks off to.

Where this really comes into play for "general purpose" computing is the ability to leverage automation. Apple's still investing in Automator and improving it. They're still working on making Applescript a 1st class tool that works with Ruby and other scripting languages.

We really need to move away from the single task focus, that quite honestly begs for a faster processor, and move towards having apps and services fire up and the quiesce without user involvement.

I'm already looking at ways ot tapping Automator, Applescript, Quickeys and other scripting tools to let my computer do more heavy lifting and more file management. Why should I have to do all of this work? Isn't the expectation that the computer should be making my life easier?

Give me a LOT of RAM so that I don't have to shut down applications (which is antithetical to productivity as a closed app cannot work for you) and give me breadth of cores so that I do not feel the hit when background tasks fire up and give me SSD to keep up with the storage needs with speed and lights out low latency numbers.

 

[hehejames]

Except for ripping, compressing etc. I'm not sure you'd see a lot of difference using the iMac dual core 3.06 with sufficient RAM than an octo with lots of apps open. Just sayin'.

This is the Mac Pro forum; perhaps you should go hang out with your other buddies on the iMac forum. Just sayin'. 😉

Yes you are right... the iMac 3.06 with sufficient RAM can and should satisfy most users, but don't compare iMac to the MP. It's like comparing a BMW 328 with the 7 series.

 

[rwdds]

My friends at Apple say the speed acceleration in an 8-core when Snow Leopard comes out will be astounding...

 

[eelpout]

This is the Mac Pro forum; perhaps you should go hang out with your other buddies on the iMac forum. Just sayin'. 😉

Yes you are right... the iMac 3.06 with sufficient RAM can and should satisfy most users, but don't compare iMac to the MP. It's like comparing a BMW 328 with the 7 series.

Heh, I don't have an iMac and am actually looking to get a Mac Pro to replace my soon to be deprecated PowerMac. Just pointing out that on Leopard, unless you're doing some serious number crunching tasks, you're not going to see a heck of a lot of difference just by having a lot of apps open. For example, I have 10 apps open on my MacBook Pro, yet I can still type this. 😉

 

[seadragon]

I went with the Octo 2.66 with 12 Gigs RAM and am extremely happy with the performance and my purchase decision. I use it mainly for Logic Studio and the Mac Pro seems to be pretty much sleeping most of time.

Very impressed.😀

 

[jjahshik32]

This is the Mac Pro forum; perhaps you should go hang out with your other buddies on the iMac forum. Just sayin'. 😉

Yes you are right... the iMac 3.06 with sufficient RAM can and should satisfy most users, but don't compare iMac to the MP. It's like comparing a BMW 328 with the 7 series.

No imacs for me, I find them grotesque aka yucky.

Either a Mac Pro or a 17" unibody mbp. Still trying to make a decision. I was going to wait until SL is out to make a purchase but I cant hold out any longer, mac mini is slowin down.